Sad to report that this past weekend SFWA Grand Master Jack Vance passed away at 96. He was the author of over 50 novels and 100 short stories including most notably his Dying Earth series. He was a Nebula and multiple Hugo award winner among many other honors and awards.

Are bookstores dying? This year they’ve seen a 27% growth in foot traffic in the first quarter compared with last year. And new indie bookstores are springing up all the time. Are ebook sales plateauing? They’ve seen a 43% growth year-over-year, not really the sign of a leveling off. Kristine Katheryn Rusch argues that the industry is far from dying, plateauing or even slowing down. Rather, it’s growing. The landscape is definitely shifting but as we move out of recession, signs are positive.

Have you noticed lately that Amazon has gotten a lot more detailed about how they help you find books? For example under scifi, you can now find sub-categories of alien invasion, dystopian, time travel, and many more. You can even select by your favorite type of characters! I have a lot of mixed feelings about Amazon, mostly because they’re a monopoly, but this sort of thing is exciting to see.
Best part: as an author, you have the ability to classify where your book falls in this system.